Women from Mid and South Canterbury's rural sector have gathered together to celebrate a quarter-century of networking and knowledge sharing.

About 20 women from the dairy industry took time off to gather at the Lake House to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Dairy Women's Network last week.

The network focuses on empowering women dairy farmers to run thriving and sustainable farming businesses in a sector with rapid change

Local sharemilker Maria Kloppers has been attending network events for more than 15 years as she's moved around from Dunsandel to Rakaia and then Ashburton.

"I love coming to the events. I've learnt so much."

She liked the fact women could talk about farming stuff.

"You can be open," Kloppers said.

Hub leader for Canterbury Allie King said the network started in 1998 as a national organisation and had grown from an initial email list of 33 to more than 11,000.

Regional groups were formed in 2001. The Canterbury region stretches from Kaikoura to Timaru and is divided into two hubs - North Canterbury and Mid South Canterbury Canterbury and has about 900 women on the email list for the Canterbury network..

The network organises a mix of knowledge-based and social events both in person and online, King said.

By Sharon Davis